Expanding global presence Vifor Pharma

EXPANDING GLOBAL

PRESENCE

Vifor Pharma, the pharmaceuticals business of the Swiss Galenica Group is a market leader in several key areas relating to prescription and non-prescription products and services. Industry Europe looks at the latest from the company.

Vifor Pharma can trace its foundations back to a pharmacy in St Gallen, Switzerland, which was established by Conrad Ferdinand Hausmann in 1872. Hausmann’s interest in infusion products led to the development of many new preparations at that time and this subsequently resulted in the foundation of the ‘Hausmann Laboratories’ in St Gallen.

By 1957 Galenica was involved in the production of hospital supplies and iron supplementation products. The success of this business prompted the acquisition of the manufacturing company Vifor Ltd and Cooper Ltd, both of which were active in the sale of hospital and pharmaceutical products.

The acquisition of the Canadian pharmaceutical company Aspreva Pharmaceuticals in 2008 and of OM Pharma in 2009 led to the creation of what is today a globally active, fully integrated and specialised company, Vifor Pharma Ltd, with a rapidly expanding range of products and projects. Today Vifor Pharma has two main areas of focus: iron deficiency anaemia, which is linked to a host of illnesses, and Consumer Healthcare (OTX and OTC products).

New partnerships

Vifor Pharma is continuously forming new distribution agreements to expand its market outreach. In May 2012, for example, it signed an exclusive agreement with Debiopharm for the distribution and commercialisation of Pamorelin LA in Switzerland. This is a drug treatment for prostate cancer and endometriosis in Switzerland.

Josef Troxler, general manager of the Swiss affiliate of Vifor Pharma, said of the agreement: “With Debiopharm we have found a renowned Swiss partner. This move will enable us to provide patients and doctors with an innovative product in the areas of oncology and gynaecology.”

In January this year Vifor Pharma expanded its distribution network even farther afield when it signed a distribution agreement with China Medical System Holdings Limited for the Vifor products Maltofer and Uro-Vaxom. The former is an oral iron supplement and the latter is for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections. The

agreement is for 10 years from the date of the first commercialisation of the products in China, and will be automatically extended for another five years if sales targets are met.

Niche market expansion

Vifor Pharma has traditionally focused on producing its own pharmaceuticals and in-licensed products for sale in Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy. However, a division was formed in 2010 to promote contract manufacturing outside of these regions. This was in part prompted by the acquisition of a UK healthcare company called Potters and partly by market forces. It has allowed the company to offer and deliver a very competitive package.

Vifor Pharma remains a niche-market company that will appeal to the small- to mediumsize pharmaceutical houses. Companies like Astra Zeneca and Novartis fall outside its remit simply because of the scale of their global operations. For medium-size pharmaceutical companies, however, it can provide a truly dedicated service package to develop and validate preparations of all kinds from our numerous manufacturing sites. These could include solid, liquid (oral dose form) and semisolid (topical applications) from its manufacturing facilities at Fribourg in Switzerland, whilst in Basel it can manufacture enemas (or clyster) and suppositories.

One of the company’s main strengths is its relatively small size, which means it can offer greater flexibility and a more dedicated customer service. Its teams work closely together to offer a regulatory service that delivers the right documentation as well as the best manufacturing and analytical services. In house it has technical regulatory specialists with extensive experience in their field. It also has procedures in place to help ensure that it maintains some product flexibility for possible variations over the lifetime of the product.

Today Vifor Pharma enjoys an increasing global presence. While the manufacture of all products is located in Switzerland, the UK and Portugal, commercialisation is managed by a wide network of affiliates and distributors throughout the world.

Putting quality first

The success of Vifor Pharma is based not only on the extensive expertise it has developed in-house, but also on its reputation for consistently achieving the highest standards of quality and precision – a traditional Swiss hallmark. Vifor Pharma quality management is based on three simple principles: to produce safe products of the highest quality, to meet international compliance standards and to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction. This philosophy is visible through the organisation. The objective is to provide high quality products to clearly defined specifications and within the delivery terms and conditions required.

In addition, Vifor Pharma has its own dedicated research laboratories, which are equipped with facilities for all state-of-the-art analytical methods, such as liquid and gas chromatography (HPLC) near-infrared spectrophotometry (NIRS) and atomic absorption analysis, as well as UV/VIS spectrophotometry. The Vifor Pharma quality organisation supports its customers in all development processes including analytical method validations, follow-up stability studies and annual product reviews. It also manages all batch release activities, such as batch record reviews and the establishment of certification, as well as handling all modifications or product improvements through change-management or supplier audit and qualification. n